Whitehouse Gives Firey Budget Rebuttal
Opposition Leader Sheldon Whitehouse gave a late rebuttal speech to the new Imperial Budget today. His take on the matter was widely anticipated, though he held off on commenting until he had enough time to study the full text of the bill. Thus, after having been observed hammering away at his calculator while shuffling between copies of the latest treasury report and the government's new proposal, he delivered his rebuttal. Originally posted by Sheldon Whitehouse MP: Mr. Speaker, I'm ready. I apologize to my colleagues and supporters for not being able to immediately make a statement on this proposal, as much as I wanted to, but I simply had to have all of the facts 100% straight first. And the facts, it brings me no joy to say, are very saddening. Mr. Speaker, this budget has not been presented to us as a proposal, but as a demand. "We have to!" is what we all heard the Chief Secretary cry out at the conclusion of the all-day pomp and spectacle of announcing the budget. We heard him say that even though it breaks his heart, we simply have to pass it because kooky old Willy Brandt left us with no money. But not to worry - he also said that it is not the taxpayer's fault, and the government will not be blaming them. I suppose we should tell that to those teachers, then, shouldn't we? Since we insisted on cutting one billion fall of yearly investment into our public schools. It's almost a negligible sum in the scope of the federal budget, but those damn teachers just have it too good, don't they? Those damn kids going to those schools - they're practically being fed beef brisket at school, surely it is they who must pay for our budget! I suppose we should inform those police departments and uniformed officers who are about to be fired about how much this government intends to not blame them as it cuts in excess of 27% of all police funding in this nation. We've had two assassinations of top government officials since this administration took over, and yet it is surely the police and National Guard whose excesses must be reigned in. But do you know who most needs to know how much they aren't being blamed by this government? The men and women who will be wrongly convicted of crimes now that it becomes clear - even though they couldn't bring themselves to admit it at any point in their five hour extravaganza - that this government intends to slash our federal court budget - the budget that funds arguably the most important aspect of life, which is the promise to be served justice by the state - from its 6.9 billion fall budget all the way down to 3 billion. How can any organization expect to cope with well over half of its revenue suddenly revoked? Does this government even care that it is putting our justice system through shock therapy to save pennies? What slum does this chamber find itself in that these are the expenses that are set to be cut in pay for this administration's 68.5 billion fall revenue cuts? Revenue cuts, which, might I just remind the Chamber, included a fifteen percentage point tax givaway to the very highest tax bracket. This government won't blame the taxpayer? What a joke. What a lie! And what do we gain from this, Mr. Speaker? If you'd listened to the Chief Secretary, you might be poised to believe that we are on the verge of finally tackling that massive deficit. Maybe it'll be brought down into the tens of billions in the red rather than hundreds? No! They didn't have the courtesy to make note of this on their budget proposal, so I'll tell you myself. This budget leaves our Imperial Treasury at a loss of one hundred and fifty-eight billion fall for the next fiscal year. How on Earth one could inherit a treasury losing 200 billion a year, privatize our 80 billion fall school loan system, cut back on wartime military expenses, and even come after the funding of our schools, hospitals, police departments, border services, National Guard, and even our courts for the sake of the Four, and still barely manage to cut back 40 billion, is simply beyond the comprehension of us mere mortals. We don't have a choice, Mr. Secretary? I think we do, and I've made mine. Category:The Imperial Constitution